Vaginal devices for delivering a drug to a vagina are known to the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 196,979 issued to patentee R. H. Kline, discloses a medicated-ring device consisting of a fabric filled with a medicinal agent useful for treating vaginal diseases. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,545,439 issued to Gordon W. Duncan there is disclosed an intravaginal ring-shaped device that can be made of various kinds of polymeric materials. The device is formed of a solid polymer containing drug that is released by diffusion to the vagina. The device optionally contains a tension spring for keeping it in the vagina. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,920,805 patentee Theodore J. Roseman discloses a solid polymeric device that has a non-medicated central solid core and an encircling medicated coating on the polymer. The device releases drug by diffusion and in a preferred embodiment, the device is ring-shaped with a flat tensioning spring molded in the nonmedicated central core. A vaginal medicament dispensing means is disclosed by James Lee Drobish and Thomas William Gougeon in U.S. Pat. No. 3,991,760. The device in this patent consists of a plurality of containers having walls releasably containing an active agent and connected by a fin arrangement. A vaginal medicament dispensing device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,995,633 by patentee Thomas W. Gougeon. The device is characterized by a plurality of containers held in place by a retaining ring by virtue of their bulbous shape. U.S. Pat. No. 4,012,496 issued to Gisela Schopflen et al discloses a vaginal ring consisting essentially of a supporting medicament-free vaginal ring having an encircling indentation with a smaller vaginal medicament containing anular ring in the indentation. U.S. Pat. No. 4,155,991 issued to Gisela Schopflin et al is similar to U.S. Pat. No. 4,012,496 reciting the structure and additionally the polymer used for making the vaginal ring. A vaginal contraceptive system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,215,691 issued to Patrick S. Wong. The vaginal system comprises a wall surrounding a reservoir housing a drug and a carrier and made of a copolymer. U.S. Pat. No. 4,292,964 issued to Harold A. Nash et al disclosed an intravaginal ring consisting essentially of an inner core, a medicated layer encircling the inner core, and an outer layer surrounding the medicated layer. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,286,587 patentee Patrick S. Wong discloses a vaginal device comprising a delivery module with an internal reservoir housing a drug for controlled release to a vagina.
The vaginal devices described above are useful for their intended purpose and they represent a valuable contribution to the vaginal dispensing art. Now, it has been discovered a vaginal dispenser can be provided that is easy to manufacture, can be made with materials that are vaginal acceptable and can be used for dispensing drug to the vagina over time. The present invention provides an improvement by making available a vaginal dispenser manufactured as a closed dispenser from the materials comprising the vaginal dispenser.